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The authors discovered that mitochondrial dysfunction caused HRI to phosphorylate eIF2α even when haem was plentiful, which was surprising, given that HRI activation had been thought to depend on haem depletion11,12.

These drugs bind to the released haem in the digestive vacuole and prevent the compound’s detoxification by the parasite — in effect, poisoning the parasite with its own metabolic debris4.

Haem is potentially toxic, and antibodies against the degradation protein reduce the worm’s ability to eliminate haem from its blood meals.

One protein degrades haem, a component of the blood protein haemoglobin.

Several RNAi programmes for liver conditions are also under way, including the development of Alnylam’s givosiran, which helps to prevent the production of neurotoxic metabolites of haem, a molecule found in red blood cells, that accumulate in people with acute hepatic porphyria.